Manga juice— Tokyo

Preface

A manga about wine has proven a hit with readers in Japan. It’s written by a brother and sister duo, who spin stories while under the influence; there’s a French edition and it is being made into a Korean TV series.

Brother and sister Shin and Yuko Kibayashi are the creators of the best-selling Japanese manga Kami no Shizuku or Les Gouttes de Dieu (Drops of God), which appears in the weekly manga magazine, Morning. The story centres on Shizuku Kanzaki whose father, a world famous wine critic, dies suddenly. He leaves a vast wine collection but in order for the young Shizuku to claim his legacy, he must first discover the identity of a group of wines, the “12 apostles” ­mentioned in his father’s will. A novice in the wine world, he is pitted against Issei …

24

June 2009

Table mangas

Culinary titles

Kami no Shizuku has carved out an oenophilic niche for itself in the manga world, but food manga is an established genre of its own. Top-selling culinary manga include Kuitan, about a food-loving detective, and Cooking Papa, about a salaryman with kitchen skills. Number one on the charts is Oishinbo (or The Gourmet) which follows the exploits of a foodie journalist and has sold over 100 million copies since it first appeared in 1983. Drawn by Akira Hanasaki, its detailed depiction of Japanese cuisine has won critical acclaim and the manga is now published in English.

For our series on media barons we feature Erick Thohir, founder of the Mahaka Media group in Jakarta. After revitalising the failing paper ‘Republika’ he’s now on a mission to modernise print, radio and TV in a freer Ind…

Hilversum was the centre of Dutch broadcasting for the best part of a century, a model media city of daring architecture. Hit hard by changes in the industry, a period of self-reflection has the city searching for new…

A manga about wine has proven a hit with readers in Japan. It’s written by a brother and sister duo, who spin stories while under the influence; there’s a French edition and it is being made into a Korean TV series.

“This is one of the first literary cafés in Porto,” boasts Antero Braga, a veteran of the book industry for 38 years and manager of Lello since 1994. Despite being over 100 years old, Lello is still breaking new ground.…

The next correspondent in our series looking at foreign coverage of the US presidential elections is Corine Lesnes of ‘Le Monde’. Once frosty, France’s relations with the US have improved with the arrival of President…

Faced with the recession and competition from retail giants and online sellers, small bookshops have been disappearing fast from our high streets. But there’s one London gem that’s a textbook example of how to buck the…